"SAKURA!"
Cherry pink hair swung as the young turned her head as she acknowledged her own name being called. A soft smile creeping onto her lips at the familiar whiskered face of her long-time childhood, fully fledged knuckle head friend. She was on her way to Konoha High, following the dusty road that lead from her village straight to the building, text books huddled close to her chest, school bag bouncing on her hip, admiring the cherry blossoms at this time of year. At least … she had been until his yell had caught her attention.
"Hey Naruto." A blinding grin broke out on the blonde's face at her greeting.
"Mind if I join you?"
"Well I don't particularly have a choice, you'll just follow me anyway." Sakura replied, his chipper mood being a bit too much for her at this time. Naruto chuckled and tapped her large forehead.
"I think someone is a little cranky this morning. I was expecting something along the lines of 'Oh my God, Naruto! I haven't seen you all weekend! I missed my best friend so much, how 'bout I treat you to some Ramen after school today!'"
"Dream on Uzumaki …"
"That's it? No Hello Hug?"
"For you're information, I bought you ramen last time you dragged me to Ichiraku's because you happened to leave your cash at home … so technically it should be you who treats me to ramen." she said smirking, knowing full well that he would have a tough time coming up with an excuse not to buy her ramen. Just as she expected, she could see him struggling to search every cell in his brain for an excuse. After recognising there was no way out, he sighed deeply and slumped in defeat.
"Fine, I'm buying …"
"CHA! I win!" Sakura cheered, punching the air. Naruto scowled.
"This is only because your cute and my best friend, it's not gonna become a routine thing … Believe it!" He warned.
Resuming their walk towards a routine day of wishing school was over already, Sakura took this rare moment where Naruto was silent to once again gaze at her surroundings. The trees on either side of them rustled ever so slightly in the morning breeze, occasionally sending numerous pasty pink petals from the splendour that were the cherry blossom trees. If there was anything Sakura cherished more … it was spring time, when her desired trees and coincidently the ones she was named after were at their maximum beauty. In her mind, she was blessed with the name given to her by her parents. If only she was as breath-taking ...
Naruto skipped ahead a few steps and turned so he was walking backwards, facing Sakura.
"Did you spot the new kid moving in today?" Sakura blinked. She briefly remembered their teacher mentioning a new student arriving after the weekend. She had in fact spotted the large moving van as she left for school, but she had yet to catch a glimpse of the newcomers. So they would be living in the same village as her and Naruto eh? Sakura wondered about what they would be like. Would they be kind, sweet and sociable people? Or would they just be another addition to the snobby lot in their area? Sakura jumped a little as Naruto snapped his fingers.
"Hell-oooooo! Naruto to Sakura!"
"Oh sorry, kind of spaced out then." She shrugged her shoulders and adjusted her hold on her text books, "I saw their van, but I didn't spot anybody." Naruto grinned again, cerulean blue eyes sparkling with excitement.
"They moved into the house opposite mine! My uncle forced me to take over some Sake as a welcoming present before I left." Sakura chuckled to herself at the image of Naruto's uncle Jiraiya waving several bottles of sake in front of his face and ordering him to be a fine neighbour.
"Well? What were they like, what do you think of the new kid?"
"I only saw his older brother, no adults. He seemed pretty friendly ... Hell he even said that I was welcome over to their home anytime," suddenly his face fell a little, "Itachi was his name, though he was cheerful he's quite creepy. He had weird eyes. Oh, he mentioned his little brother though and and asked that I help him around school as it's his first day." He paused for a second, expression becoming that of a scheming one, "Maybe I'll get him to worship me, carry all my books to class and become my personal slave!" Sakura paid no heed to his last comment, knowing full well it'd never happen. Naruto was one of the idiots himself after all.
"So we have a new guy in our class huh?" Sakura added to herself eyes falling to the ground. She hoped very much that he wasn't good looking, for the own boy's sake. Sakura remembered vaguely the last time a handsome boy entered their school for the first time, and she definitely recalled the look of relief on his face when he had departed after his mother had complained to the school about harassment of her child. To put it simply, Konoha High was known to have somewhat obsessive girls when they were infatuated.
"Hoping to catch his eye with your overwhelming cuteness already Sakura-Chan?" Naruto smirked, winking at her with that infuriating grin of his. Scowling, Sakura decided against warning the blonde about the large rock sticking out of the ground behind him. With a yell, Naruto went stumbling backwards, flailing madly to stop himself falling but with no success. Naruto groaned as Sakura bent over him and smiled harmlessly.
"That's what you get for walking backwards you idiot." she straightened again and continued forwards, more rapidly than before.
"Jeez I guess Karma really does exist … huh? Hey wait up Sakura-Chan, don't leave me behind!" Naruto yelled, scrambling to his feet and began jogging to catch up with her.
The two friends entered through the school gates with several minutes to spare. Naruto's pout that had stayed with him since he'd took the tumble vanished instantaneously when he spotted a particular inky head several meters away, being replaced fully with his trademark grin of pure elation. Sakura blinked only once, and he was gone. The pink-haired girl stared momentarily at the space Naruto had previously occupied before she'd registered he'd actually left. She didn't have to search with her eyes for long however, for there he was, swinging his girlfriend of 3 weeks now round in his arms again like he did every time he saw her, as if the two of them had been separated for a painstakingly long time. Sakura was surprised that Hinata hadn't had a heart attack as of yet, the way he simply hoisted her high into the air. Next to the couple stood Neji, arms folded over his chest tightly, the dark haired boy glaring daggers at Naruto. It didn't take a genius to see that the blonde idiot had interrupted a conversation.
"Naruto, put her down … Hinata doesn't need you doing that to her each time you meet." she scolded as she approached them, seeing that Neji was probably going to do something drastic and feeling the need to intervene, but she couldn't help but smile amiably at the same time. Hinata's small giggles and content expression made it pretty obvious she didn't mind Naruto spinning her around in the slightest.
"Aww but Sakura-Chan, I haven't seen her in ages!" Naruto whined. Sakura rolled her eyes.
"I suppose yesterday afternoon was 'ages'? Not to mention you probably stayed up all night texting her" she stated. Hinata blushed profusely at the last comment.
"I knew you had camera's in my room!" Naruto said accusingly, glowering at his friend. Sakura just waved him of with a chuckle.
"No, I just happen to have known you all my life and can read you like a book."
Naruto opened his mouth the say something that would be classed witty when a noisy cough cut him off. They turned to look at Neji, Sakura remembering suddenly he was there. At that moment Naruto, finally realising his mistake, placed his girl down with a slightly apologetic grin.
"Hehe … sorry Neji …" he attempted meekly, holding his hands up in his own defense.
"Forget it Naruto," Neji sighed, eyebrows still stuck in a frown, "You're lucky you're my cousin's boyfriend otherwise I'd punch you for interrupting my conversation." He finished. Naruto scratched the back of his neck nervously as Hinata frowned.
"Neji-kun, d-don't speak t-to Naruto-kun like that!" she was about to say more before Naruto placed a hand over her mouth, pleading her to stop. Sakura didn't blame him, Neji was reasonably scary when annoyed.
"So what were you and Hinata talking about anyway?" Sakura asked simply, she disliked the silence between them all and decided it best to change the subject. Neji looked at her for a moment before he closed his eyes.
"My cousin and I were discussing the matter of the new kid." Sakura nodded in acknowledgment of the matter whereas Naruto perked up at the mention of the new student. So it seemed the other classes had been informed of his arrival too.
"He's moved into your village, has he not?" Neji finished., pearly eye's opening again and looking towards the two of them for an answer.
"Yeah, but we haven't actually met him yet, Naruto went over to their house earlier this morning but didn't see him." Neji nodded to himself.
"Hm, well I suppose we'll find out what he's like soon enough." and just like that, the piercing bell sounded, signalling the beginning of lessons. Naruto hugged Hinata farewell before he was dragged unceremoniously by Sakura to their English class.
"But Sakuraaaaaaa!" he cried, struggling to get back to Hinata who simply turned away from them giggling at Naruto's antics, waving before she hurried over to catch up with her moody cousin.
"Naruto you love sick idiot, you'll see her in chemistry for god sake! that's one hour away, not that long." she sighed, holding him painfully by the ear. He groaned in defeat.
"You know, Sakura, when the day comes where you're in love, I'm gonna do exactly the same thing! Then you will also experience the injustice that is you holding me away from my beloved against my will!" he said loudly, throwing his arms to the air to emphsise his despair. Sakura resisted the urge to laugh.
"Since when did you become so romantic?" she paused for a second, her finger placed on her chin in thought before her eye's widened in realisation, "Oh I know, he met a young, timid girl called Hinata! Awww how unbelievably sweet!"
"Shut up … your sarcasm is not apprieciated" he mumbled. The two of them didn't bother to hurry, for they knew that their teacher would probably not be present for another twenty minutes.
Little did the two teens know, over at the back entrance of Konoha high ... A raven-haired boy stared up at the building with his seemingly emotionless onyx eyes, bag thrown casually over one shoulder, both hands buried deep in his trouser pockets. No one could see him, for he'd deliberately picked a spot where students were most scarce. The last thing he wanted was human interaction. He let out a deep sigh.
"This one will be no different ..." he mumbled to himself, before procceeding to enter the school.